IRAQI ROTTEN DATE BIOFUEL

Iraq to make biofuels out of rotting dates
Ahmed Rasheed (w/Tim Cocks), September 13, 2009 (Reuters)

"Iraq's prime minister has approved a project by a United Arab Emirates-based company to make biofuel from dates that would otherwise be wasted because they have started to perish…

"Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves but its crumbling farm sector, which has suffered from decades of sanctions, isolation and war, is the country's leading employer…A long drought has conspired with entrenched problems like high soil salinity, poor irrigation practices and a lack of proper seeds and fertiliser to hold back domestic farming and make Iraq heavily dependent on grain imports. Iraqi officials are keen to do anything to boost agricultural productivity…"

(Image from Biopact - click to enlarge

"Iraq, whose date palm plantations dot the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in an otherwise parched landscape, used to be a leading date exporter. It exports a tiny amount at present…

"Faroun Ahmed Hussein, head of the national date palm board, said the Emirati company would produce bioethanol from dates that farmers cannot export because they are starting to rot. It would be used domestically at first, then possibly later exported…"

It's not the solution to global climate change but a small scale alternative fuel industry is a small step in the right direction. (image from Biopact - click to enlarge)

"…Iraq produces 350,000 tonnes of dates annually, a sharp fall from 900,000 tonnes produced before the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein but still more than the 150,000 tonnes it currently consumes. Some are fed to animals…

"Biofuels are seen by some policymakers as a key element in the fight against climate change, because plants suck up carbon from the atmosphere…"